I wasn't familiar with this Dakota–Edgewood trail bridge, guessing it creates a new north-south link in SLP across the railroad just for bikes and peds. Since such a trail would create a connection to the Peter Hobart elementary school to neighborhoods north of the railroad, this would be very positive.

Both absolutely should exist, but what Mother Earth Gardens doesn't seem to understand is that lanes on 42nd don't meaningfully narrow the 2 mile gap between Godfrey Pkwy and the Greenway. That's why it has to be 38th, because it--unlike 42nd--would dramatically expand the area within blocks of a good bikeway. I don't think a lot of non-bike people realize that a lot of these lanes aren't about people getting from W River to the Lakes but getting from their house to those things, or to a safe route downtown.

But also, much as I love the Midtown Greenway, if there was a continuous bike facility on 38th all the way to Bryant (jog up to 36th for the protected to the lake), I think I'd be easily convinced to take that all the way to Mother Gardens (or Riverview Theater, or whatever) rather than the Greenway. I live at 35.5th so to go out of my way to the Greenway, even with the Hiawatha diagonal cutting a tangent back south, still adds 1.2 miles to my journey compared to using 38th St directly. That's 6 extra minutes, which includes Google's estimate for no lights in the trench (something that better signals that detect & prioritize cyclists on a dedicated route could mitigate). That extra distance is even worse if you're hauling kids, or plants in a bike trailer/cargo bike.

Too often, there's a place I'd like to bike to in this city with my wife and kids, but we end up saying nah because you have to loop so far out of your way to get to a dedicated trail or really comfortable bike street. Another example is Pepitos - which we biked an extra 1.5 miles via Harriet's bike path and Minnehaha Creek to get to. Those extra miles mean the kid might lose it in the bike, or it gets cold quickly after you eat, or another 5-10 minutes out in the rain you may not have expected.

But yes, mostly these lanes are about making traffic calmer on those specific streets and providing better travel options within the neighborhood for those businesses' customers.

I stopped by to talk with the owner today. She is concerned about both the loss of parking along 38th Street and the ability to park her delivery trucks there.

I got the impression from a Facebook "discussion" that Fireroast cafe (37th Ave and 38th Street) is going to try and get the bike lane replaced by sharrows on their block. It has been awhile since I've biked it but isn't this the setup along 42nd Street near A Bakers Wife? I can't imagine it would work very well to expect cyclists to merge with traffic for just that one block, considering most drivers probably won't even be aware of the bike lane disappearing. Of course I think it is asinine that folks are worried about parking in this neighborhood anyway...

I've also been told by Andrew Johnson's office that there will be a public meeting for just this topic, but specifics have not yet been set.

According to the documents there will be parking along 38th at the intersection with 42nd (due to a wider ROW near the intersection. If that's true, I'm not sure what the problem is, and I'm not sure why nobody is acknowledging that.

Look at the plans, and look at the current steeet: NO PARKING is being lost at this node (within a half-block each way). There is already no parking on the north side of 38th. There is already no parking in front of the theater on 38th (bus stop). There is only parking on the south side of 38th east of the intersection (in front of the clinic). No parking is being lost in front of the businesses. There is adequate parking on 42nd (both sides) for customers to utilize. The only real issue is with delivery trucks, but since that seems to be a minor issue (judging by the language of their arguement) I'm sure it could be figured out.

To sum up yesterday's Facebook bickering, Mother Earth is concerned about delivery trucks being able to stop in the bike lane. Okay, whatever, most businesses would just ignore the fact that it's illegal (I think it is anyway), but if there's an accomodation to allow them to do that whatever. Not ideal but okay. She also deleted her hyperbolic FB post from yesterday and seems open to reasonable discussion (aside from the hyberbolic post on her website: http://www.motherearthgarden.com/bike-lanes-38th/)

Fireroast guy, on the other hand, seems really fired up about "losing" 4-5 spots across the street from his parking lot, saying all the usual things about how the infirmed need to park there and why can't they put it elsewhere and nobody bikes anyway. Meanwhile, someone who purports to be a huge biker is saying why can't we just have 2-3 blocks of sharrows and he already bikes there already and it's fine.

As has been noted, there's very little parking at issue. I'd bet the city caves an goes with sharrows along the south side of 38th at 42nd. I'd be fine with that for me, personally, because like macho bike dude, I can handle it, but getting rid of an accomodating bike facility exactly where it's needed is frustrating.

Beachclub, you're correct that the 42nd St. bike lanes turn into sharrows at 28th Ave, as they also do at Cedar. So do the 46th street bike lanes at Bloomington and the 54th St. lanes at Lyndale. It's what we do.

According to the documents there will be parking along 38th at the intersection with 42nd (due to a wider ROW near the intersection. If that's true, I'm not sure what the problem is, and I'm not sure why nobody is acknowledging that.

Look at the plans, and look at the current steeet: NO PARKING is being lost at this node (within a half-block each way). There is already no parking on the north side of 38th. There is already no parking in front of the theater on 38th (bus stop). There is only parking on the south side of 38th east of the intersection (in front of the clinic). No parking is being lost in front of the businesses. There is adequate parking on 42nd (both sides) for customers to utilize. The only real issue is with delivery trucks, but since that seems to be a minor issue (judging by the language of their arguement) I'm sure it could be figured out.

Wish we could have just left 26 and 28th for cars and have a bike greenway (with one way traffic for local traffic in limited spots) on 27th. Also any reason why we they are not making it an 8ft bike lane and a 5ft buffer? I been seeing a lot of youtube videos about new bike cycle tracks in urban cities becoming congested.